Structure of air bladder pumping device

ABSTRACT

An air bladder pumping device includes an air pump and an air bladder. The air pump includes a base, a resilient membrane, and two air valves. The base forms a tubular receptacle that receives one of the air valves and has a bottom defining an air exit opening. The resilient membrane forms a socket that receives another air valve and has a bottom defining an air entrance opening. The resilient membrane and the base have circumferential sealing flanges, which are tightly secured together through ultrasonic processing or die pressing to form the air pump. The air pump is attached to one side of the air bladder to form an inner lining cushioning bladder. Air intake and exhaust of the air bladder can be performed through squeezing the air pump.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to an air pumping device for use with an air bladder that serves as an inflatable cushioning lining structure for a helmet that is used in riding a motorcycle or a bicycle or used in a construction site or the likes.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

A helmet is provided for being worn on the head of a person to protect the head from being hit and thus hurt by an external force. Thus, the helmet comprises a shell made of a rigid plastic material, such as polycarbonate, and an inner lining made of high density Styrofoam that provides vibration- and shock-resistance. Further, the helmets are subjected to inspection under severe safety regulations. Although such a helmet can effectively protect the wearer's head by minimizing the injury occurring to the head when the head is hit by an impact force, yet the inner structure of the helmet is only of limited capability for spreading and absorbing the impact force. Thus, symptoms of injury, such as vertigo and brain concussion, may still likely happen to the wearer's head.

Further, the conventional helmets that are available in the market are of a design for mass production and the limited options of size of the conventional helmets make it not possible to fit to each individual. This prevents an individual wearer from wearing a commercially available helmet in such a properly covered and protected condition that an impact force hitting the head may cause severe shocks to the head, or even causing the helmet to unexpectedly separate from the wearer's head, leading to even more severe damage.

In view of the above problems, the present invention aims to provide an air bladder pumping device that, when mounted inside a helmet, provides improved cushioning and protection to a helmet wearer's head against an external impact force, or that can alternatively serve as a cushion lining of a shoe or a seat.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The primary objective of the present invention is to provide an air bladder pumping device, which can be manually operated for inflation to be positioned inside a helmet so as to spread out an impact force acting upon the helmet and thus ensure improved cushioning and protection to the head of a helmet wearer.

Another objective of the present invention is to provide an air bladder pumping device, which provides complete coverage of the header of a wearer and ensures comfortableness of wearing.

A further objective of the present invention is to provide an air bladder pumping device, which is positionable inside a shoe or a seat to serve as an inflatable cushioning lining structure so as to provide improved cushioning after inflation.

To achieve the above objectives, the present invention provides an air bladder pumping device, which comprises an air pump and an air bladder. The air pump comprises a base, a resilient membrane, and two air valves each providing a one-way airflow structure. The base forms a tubular receptacle having a bottom through which an air exit opening is defined. A first one of the air valve is received and retained in the tubular receptacle to form an air exhaust port. The resilient membrane forms a recessed portion that defines a socket having a bottom through which an air entrance opening is defined. A second one of the air valves is received and retained in the socket. Both the resilient membrane and the base have a circumference forming a sealing flange, and the sealing flanges are tightly secured together through ultrasonic processing or die pressing to form an air chamber included air pump with the two air valves concealed inside the air chamber. The air pump is attached to one side of the air bladder to form an inner lining cushioning bladder, which is positionable inside a helmet. As such, a user may squeeze the air pump to inflate the air bladder to provide complete and comfortable coverage of the head of a helmet wearer and also ensure improved safety and protection. The configuration of the air bladder can be modified in such a way that the air bladder is positionable inside a shoe or a seat to serve as a cushioning lining structure, which provides an improved cushioning effect after inflation.

The foregoing objectives and summary provide only a brief introduction to the present invention. To fully appreciate these and other objects of the present invention as well as the invention itself, all of which will become apparent to those skilled in the art, the following detailed description of the invention and the claims should be read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Throughout the specification and drawings identical reference numerals refer to identical or similar parts.

Many other advantages and features of the present invention will become manifest to those versed in the art upon making reference to the detailed description and the accompanying sheets of drawings in which a preferred structural embodiment incorporating the principles of the present invention is shown by way of illustrative example.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exploded view showing an air pump that constitutes partly an air bladder pumping device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view, partially broken, showing the air pump according to the present invention in an assembled form.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the air pump according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an exploded view showing an air valve that is mounted in the air pump according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a partial cross-sectional view of the air pump according to the present invention, which is shown in an enlarged form.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing an air bladder to which the air pump is attached to constitute the air bladder pumping device of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing the air bladder pumping device according to the present invention that is formed by attaching the air pump to the air bladder.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The following descriptions are exemplary embodiments only, and are not intended to limit the scope, applicability or configuration of the invention in any way. Rather, the following description provides a convenient illustration for implementing exemplary embodiments of the invention. Various changes to the described embodiments may be made in the function and arrangement of the elements described without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

Referring to FIGS. 1-3, the present invention provides an air bladder pumping device, which generally comprises an air pump 1 and an air bladder 40. The air pump 1 comprises a base 10 and a resilient membrane 20 mounted atop the base 10 through for example die pressing. The base 10 is preferably made of plastics. The base 10 has a top that has a circumference along which a raised rim 11 is formed. The base 10 also forms a raised tubular receptacle 12 on the top thereof and inside the rim 11. The tubular receptacle 12 has a bottom through which an air exit opening 13 is defined. The base 10 comprises a flat sealing flange 14 circumferentially extending around the outer circumference thereof. The tubular receptacle 12 of the base 10 receives and retains therein an air exhaust valve 30 for releasing air.

The resilient membrane 20 is of a generally dome shape with a socket or tubular receptacle 21 integrally formed therewith. The socket 21 has a bottom through which an air entrance opening 22 is defined. The socket 21 receives and retains therein an air intake valve 30 a that draws in air. The resilient membrane 20 has an outer circumference along which a sealing flange 23 circumferentially extends, whereby the base 10 and the resilient membrane 20 can be coupled to each other by applying plastics ultrasonic processing or die pressing to the sealing flanges 14, 32 to joint the flanges so as to form an air chamber included structure of the air pump 1. The air pump 1 is attachable to one side of the air bladder 40 to serve as an inner lining cushioning bladder 2 (as shown in FIG. 6).

Referring to FIG. 4, the air exhaust valve 30 and the air intake valve 30 a are of a simple structure of one-way valve, comprising a valve housing 31 and a valve disk 32 movably received in the valve housing 31. The valve disk 32 is received in a chamber 33 defined in the valve housing 31 in a loose fitting manner, whereby when the air pump 1 is compressed or squeezed, the compression or squeezing causes the air pump 1 to pump out and draw in respectively through the air exhaust valve 30 and the air intake valve 30 a. As shown in FIG. 5, the air intake valve 30 a is received in the tubular receptacle or socket 21 of the resilient membrane 20 in an interference fitting manner and the air exhaust valve 30 is received and retained in the tubular receptacle 12 of the base 10.

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, the valve housing 31 of each of the valves 30, 30 a forms therein a chamber 33, and the valve housing 31 has a top through which a through hole 311 is defined, preferably at a central location, in communication with the chamber 33. The valve housing 31 has an inside circumferential surface that forms a plurality of spaced and inwardly projecting ribs 312. The arrangement of the projecting ribs helps keeping a low frictional resistance with respect to the movable valve disk 32 and also helps maintaining smooth flows of air so as to prevent the valve disk 32 from jamming in the course of movement. The valve housing 31 has an opposite open bottom end with a circumferential flange 313 circumferentially extending around an outer circumference thereof. The valve disk 32 has a bottom surface forming a plurality of deformable resilient pegs 321 and air passages 322 defined between the resilient pegs 321 (as shown in FIG. 4). The arrangement of the air passages 322 helps expanding the space through which airflows may pass to realize efficient air charging. As such, with the valve disk 32 received inside the valve housing 31 in an up and down movable manner and with a sealing rim 323 formed on a top surface of the valve disk 32 normally engaging a bottom side of the through hole 311 of the valve housing 31, the valve housing 31 is securely held in position by having the outer circumferential flange 313 fit into and retained in a corresponding groove defined in a side wall of the tubular receptacle 12 or the socket 21.

When a force is applied to the resilient membrane 20 of the air pump 1, the valve disk 31 that is received in the air exhaust valve 30 of the base 10 is acted upon by air pressure of the compressed air inside the air pump 1 and the sealing rim 323 of the valve disk 32 is caused to separate from the through hole 311 of the valve housing 31, forcing the resilient pegs 321 on the bottom of the valve disk 31 to deform and bend, so that the air contained in the air chamber inside the air pump 1 is allowed to enter the air exhaust valve 30 through the through hole 311 formed in the top of the valve housing 31 and flows sequentially through the air passages 322 formed in the bottom of the valve disk 32 and the air exit opening 13 to exhaust. On the other hand, when the force applied to the resilient membrane 20 is removed, the resilient membrane 20 induces a resilient restoration force, and under such a condition, the sealing rim 323 of the valve disk 32 of the air intake valve 30 a is acted upon by negative pressure induced inside the air pump 1 and separates from the through hole 311 of the valve housing 31 the through hole 311, whereby external air is allowed to enter through the through hole 311 formed in the top of the valve housing 31 of the air intake valve 30 a of the resilient membrane 20, sequentially passing through the air passages 322 formed in the bottom of the valve disk 32 and the air entrance opening 22 to move into the air chamber of the air pump 1 until the resilient membrane 20 completely restores the original inflated condition, as show in FIG. 5. In accordance with the present invention, the air exhaust valve 30 and the air intake valve 30 a are arranged close to each other and are constructed as one-way valves in opposite directions, so that when the air pump 1 is in an air discharging condition, the air intake valve 31 a is closed and when the air pump 1 is in an air draw-in condition, the air exhaust valve 31 is closed. With such an arrangement, when the air pump 1 is squeezed, an efficient operation can realized due to that fact that air exhaust is performed immediately after air intake.

Referring to FIGS. 6 and 7, to use the air pump 1 according to the present invention, the pump is attached to one side of the air bladder 40 in such a way that an air passageway hole 41 defined in the air bladder 40 is set to correspond, in position, to the air exit opening 13 of the base 10 of the air pump 1. When the air bladder 40 is mounted to the bottom of the sealing flange 14 of the air pump 1, the air passageway hole 41 is set in communication with the air exit opening 13 to allow the device of the present invention to serve as an inner lining cushioning bladder 2 that is positionable inside a helmet. The air bladder 40 is also provided with an air release valve 42 at one side thereof for selectively releasing air contained inside the air bladder 40 for deflation. As such, when the inner lining cushioning bladder 2 is set inside a helmet, a user may successively squeeze and compress the air pump 1 to fill air into the air bladder 40 for inflation (as shown in FIG. 7) to provide protection to a head wearing the helmet. When the helmet is subjected to an external impact, the air bladder 40 provides a cushioning effect that spreads out the impact force and thus minimizing the force directly acting on the head. Further, the user may adjust the amount of air filled in the air bladder 40 as desired, so as to ensure complete and proper coverage of the head. Further, since in the present invention, the air exhaust valve 30 and the air intake valve 30 a are concealed inside the air chamber of the air pump 1, a person who wears a helmet that receives the inner lining cushioning bladder 2 therein does not feels discomfort caused by the air valves contacting his or her head and apparently, this is a comfortable design. Further, the air intake valve and the air exhaust valve are arranged at the same side of the air pump so that they does not interfere with the operation of the hand squeezing the air pump and allows the hand or fingers of a user to compress or squeeze the air pump straight to the bottom to ensure the maximum amount of air filled in each pumping and thus reduce the time required for carrying out the air inflation operation of the air bladder.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or two or more together may also find a useful application in other types of methods differing from the type described above.

While certain novel features of this invention have been shown and described and are pointed out in the annexed claim, it is not intended to be limited to the details above, since it will be understood that various omissions, modifications, substitutions and changes in the forms and details of the device illustrated and in its operation can be made by those skilled in the art without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention. 

1. An air bladder pumping device comprising an air pump and an air bladder, characterized in that: the air pump comprises a base, a resilient membrane, and two air valves, the base forming a tubular receptacle in which a first one of the air valve is received and retained, the tubular receptacle having a bottom through which an air exit opening is defined, the base having a circumference forming a flat sealing flange; the resilient membrane forms a recessed portion that defines a socket for receiving and retaining therein a second one of the air valves, the socket having a bottom through which an air entrance opening is defined, the resilient membrane having a circumference forming a sealing flange, the sealing flanges being processable to tightly fix to each other so as to combine the base and the resilient membrane together; the air valves are of a one-way valve structure and are respectively received and retained in the tubular receptacle of the base and the socket of the resilient membrane, so that the air valve received in the tubular receptacle of the base serves as air exhaust valve for air discharging and the air valve received in the socket of the resilient membrane serves as an air intake valve for drawing in air; and the air bladder forms an air passageway hole that corresponds in position to the air exit opening of the base of the air pump, the air bladder being attachable to bottom of the sealing flange of the base of the air pump, the air bladder forming an air release valve.
 2. The air bladder pumping device according to claim 1, wherein the base has a top forming a raised rim extending along a circumference thereof.
 3. The air bladder pumping device according to claim 1, wherein each of the air valves comprises a valve housing and a valve disk, the valve housing having a top forming a through hole, the valve disk having a bottom forming a plurality of deformable resilient pegs and a top forming a sealing rim, the valve disk being received inside the valve housing, the air valves being respectively received in the tubular receptacle of the base and the socket of the resilient membrane in an interference fitting manner, the top of the valve disk being normally in engagement with bottom of the through hole of the valve housing.
 4. The air bladder pumping device according to claim 3, wherein the valve housing has an outer circumference forming a circumferential flange, which is fit to a side wall of the tubular receptacle and the socket to securely hold the air valve in position.
 5. The air bladder pumping device according to claim 3, wherein the valve housing has an inside surface forming a plurality of projecting ribs.
 6. The air bladder pumping device according to claim 3, wherein the bottom of the valve disk forms air passages between the resilient pegs. 